Earth Day will take the River City by storm this April 18. Not one, but three festivals will celebrate and encourage our commitment to environmental stewardship with awesome activities, entertainment and educational opportunities. Sprawling across the city and even into the surrounding counties, you have more options than you can shake a kale smoothie at. Join Enrichmond, Style Weekly, or John Tyler Community College (or all three) for some of the best Earth Day fun to be had.

Are you a high school junior or senior? Planning on a career in tech? In need of a summer opportunity to jazz up your skill set? TheVirginia Technology Internship Program (VTIP) is the answer! Apply by April 3rd to be considered for this top-notch internship matching program. VTIP will connect the best and brightest high school interns with local technology leaders for a minimum of 8 weeks for 20 hours per week at $10/hr. Sweet deal, right?

Today, we’re traveling to the mid to late-nineteenth century to meet Dr. Daniel Hale Williams. He pioneered several firsts in his field: opening the first hospital with an interracial staff in 1891 and performing the first successful open heart surgery in 1893.

In this second installment of our Black History Month series honoring black scientists and inventors, we’d like to bring it home to our own state of Virginia. We have James Edward MaceoWest to thank for the mechanics used in more than 90 percent of modern microphones.

Here at Science Matters, we hesitate to confine black history to a month. In fact, we strive to bring stories of scientists of all racial and cultural groups to the forefront as we pursue learning in STEM (Science, Technology, Engineering and Math) disciplines. However, we would like to take the opportunity this February to acknowledge and highlight achievements by black Americans, as society often did not value their genius.

You might know October as the month for fallen leaves, pumpkin carving and warm cider, but here at Science Matters we have a different tradition brewing. National Cyber Security Awareness Month, and that means it’s time for our favorite citizen scientists to hit the ’Net in pursuit of knowledge and safety. No prior experience required.